(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates, in general, to an electric cart apparatus which can be easily put into and taken out of a trunk of a car.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Generally, when a person goes shopping at a supermarket or the like, he or she arrives in a car, loads necessary goods into a cart while pushing the cart, loads the goods into his/her car trunk, returns home, and takes out the goods from the trunk and moves the goods into his/her home. This type of shopping requires a lot of labor and is inconvenient.
In order to overcome the foregoing problem, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-299494 proposed a foldable shopping cart that can be put into a car. This shopping cart includes a frame, a pair of front wheel supporting legs, a pair of rear wheel supporting legs and a guide part. A handlebar is provided on the rear upper portion of the frame. The upper portion of each of the front wheel supporting legs can swing between a working position that extends in the upward-downward direction and a folding-up position that springs up backward. The front wheel supporting legs are provided with front wheels at both sides of the front bottom of the frame. The rear wheel supporting legs are supported on both sides of the rear bottom of the frame through two links so as to extend and move in the upward-downward direction at the working position that extends in the upward-downward direction and a position that is behind the working position. Rear wheels are provided on the bottom of the rear wheel supporting legs. The guide part is provided on the front lower portion of the frame at a position that is in front of or behind the position when the front wheel supporting legs are pushed.
However, the links are unbalanced when they are connected to the wheels while being folded on the bottom of the basket. Consequently, the shopping cart may fall down due to vibration or impact occurring in a car, thereby damaging goods, which is problematic.
The information disclosed in the Background of the Invention section is only for the to enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this information forms a prior art that would already be known to a person skilled in the art.